Nurungukal....contd...

     The no. One mail, one of the most prestigious trains of southern railway reached Madras central in time and as usual the COPS [chief operating superintendent] was at the station to offer a cup of tea to the driver. This was a practise followed by Mr. Madhava Menon as a mark of expressing his appreciation to the driver for maintaining punctuality. Something which can be worth emulated by the present day managers. After luxuriating in a cold bath at Nadar’s Garden I headed for Chetpet railway station to catch an electric train to Chromepet. It was the nearest station to Chitalapakkam where my warehouse was.

      It was one of the four biggest warehouses in south India at that time, having a capacity of 50,000 metric tones. Other three were in Tanjore,Mannargudi and Trichy. They were built under a crash programme envisaged by Mr. Subramanyan, the then food minister to accommodate ship loads of wheat received from America as per their PL 480 [public law] and also the indigenous wheat and rice procured from different parts of India. Later on this facility was utilised to accommodate BULGAR WHEAT and CSM [ a blended maize product, both received on a programme known as CARE [Co.op American Relief for Every where]. Both these products were intended for supply to school as nutrient supplement.

      As I reached the ware house, there were rows of lorries carrying CARE products and wheat from Madras harbour waiting at the gate. A sight which  always pleases a warehouse man as it would boost the occupancy and performance of the centre.

     My colleagues were anxious to know what has transpired yesterday at Calicut. They wanted to know every details of the interview with the girl, especially about our conversation and reactions. Women were eager about her attire, ornaments , hair style and of course whether she was fair or dark etc. Men indulged in asking naughty questions and to satisfy them I exaggerated  some details. Every body liked her name,Nandini and more so her pet name Baby. One or two enquired why so. Although I was unable to provide an explanation at that time, later after our marriage , I presumed after seeing her photos that it might have been, because of her curly hair and dimple chin as a babe. More over she was the youngest girl in the family.They gave her full marks and every one was happy with the decision I had taken. The cross examination went on for some more time and slowly one by one returned to look after their assigned responsibilities leaving me in solitude....contd...